


i thought i had you on hold

by FireworksShow



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Anger, Angst, Emotional Hurt, F/M, kinda spoiler-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 11:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12958104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireworksShow/pseuds/FireworksShow
Summary: after 2x08;Veronica left Riverdale after suffering the ultimate betrayal.More than three years later, she's at a bar in New York, Archie Andrews goes up on stage and they have unresolved business to deal with.





	i thought i had you on hold

**Author's Note:**

> a bit spoiler-ish but not really? i just took the 2x08 ending and ran with it.
> 
> title comes from The xx's "On Hold"

Out of all the bars in New York, this was the last one that Veronica expected to see her ex-boyfriend. Especially because she had last seen him three and a half years ago, when she took up her father's offer and packed her bags to boarding school. It was an act of impulsiveness that she didn't regret, not even now that he was standing on the stage looking dumbfounded at her way. 

She had tried being a better person in Riverdale – harder than a lot of things that she had put her mind into, in fact – but it was all for naught when she found out that her then best friend and her not-that-ex-yet had stabbed her in the back. Naturally, she chose to pick up her pieces in the Swiss Alps, determined to guard her heart and her feelings from anyone. 

To think that she was _this_ close to showing her true feelings to Archie when she discovered that he and Betty had kissed not even 24-hours after her first real fight with him. She had tested being open and vulnerable during her stay on Riverdale but it only lead to the worst pain she had ever experienced, making a vow to herself that she would never let anyone hurt her like that again.

Yet, her breath had caught seeing him on top of the small stage with that same battered guitar in hand. Even if she thought that she had already bottled up her feelings tight enough and worked up the deception with her therapist, she wasn't expecting for her night to go down like that. The half full glass of Old Fashioned on her hand was drowned in one big gulp as she signaled the bartender for a refill. She wasn't leaving, that was her home turf after all, but she was going to need the alcohol in order to survive it all.

His set wasn't long, a few of the songs merged into the other, but she was pretty sure that she knew a couple of them. There was one about a girl from the big city who thought him what love really was that she was pretty sure could, easily, be named "Ronnie" and she had chosen to not pay attention to the lyrics, instead engaging herself deeply into whatever was the conversation topic on her table. To make her point, she had even turned her back to the stage and stayed that way until Archie announced that they were taking a break and another band would take over in twenty minutes. 

A moment later all the eyes of her table were looking past her. She took a deep breath and turned to face Archie a few steps away from her. Veronica tried really hard to keep a neutral face but something that passed on the guy's face made her realize that she probably shot daggers at him with her look. 

"Archibald." It made him wince and she would have to lie if someone asked her if that didn't make her feel a tiny bit better. "Fancy seeing you here."

Archie shoved his hands in his pockets and took a beat too long to answer, seeing that Veronica's friend was already asking her if she knew the guy. 

"Complicated story." 

Was her simple answer before she gave him another pointed look and tilted her head. It was his cue to start talking, otherwise he'd lose her attention real soon.

"It—It's been a while." He searched for her eyes that were looking at everywhere but him. "I didn't know that you were back."

"You lost the right to know my whereabouts when you decided to stab me in my back." Veronica only had time to measure her words after they were out, liquid courage doing its work and all, but she wasn't up to sugar coat things for him.

Archie felt the blow. He looked at his Chucks and tried to cover a stain that was probably already there the last time that Veronica had seen him wearing them. 

Veronica looked up and exhaled loudly.

"I got into Wharton."

She didn't know exactly why she was sharing this piece of information with him, as if he should piece together the timeline of her life out of Riverdale. It wasn't as if she had cut all her ties to the city either. 

Surprisingly enough, Kevin had taken her side and they were still friends. She had seen him a few times in New York and the same was valid for Josie and Cheryl. In fact, both girls were one of her closest friends – even if she usually kept people at arm's length these days, her trust issues being worse than when she went to Spence.

"I'm spending the break in New York. Cheryl was supposed to meet me here."

Ok, that was enough. She should probably shut her blabbering mouth, she didn't owe him anything. He was the one who approached her, so he should be the one to do the talking.

"You're looking good." Archie tried.

"Go to hell."

If she still had anything inside her glass, she was pretty sure she would've thrown it at his face. His face twisted, knowing that he had chosen the wrong words.

Noticing that they were gathering quite the attention from her friends, she grabbed him by the hand and dragged him to a more private space.

"You honestly don't get to come to me and say that." She could feel the tension building up on every nerve of her body. "Because you don't know how hard it was for me to look this good again."

Yes, she was trying to hurt him. She wanted him to know how it felt, even though nothing that she did could match what he'd done to her.

"You didn't even have the guts to tell me that you and Betty had kissed!" Veronica blurted and she knew that it was a point of no return. "You were the two people that I loved the most!"

Archie's eyes had widened at the mention of the word. Veronica noticed his deer in the headlights look and shook her head.

"Exactly. I loved you Archie. There I said it now." 

She spit out the words as if they tasted bad in her tongue. "I thought that you knew it, even if I couldn't bring myself to say it. You should've known." 

"That's not fair." Archie tried to protest, but he was only met with Veronica's sarcastic laugh.

"I stayed by your side while you were at your worse. I endured your darkest moments with you." She looked up, still laughing. "I stuck my hand on a fucking toilet box to get your stupid gun.

But, no. That didn't matter, right? I had to spell it out for you even if I had no idea of what it meant."

Archie opened his mouth but Veronica's index finger silenced him while she went on. "Maybe I should've said it just out of spite, because your feelings were the only ones that mattered, right?" 

"I fucked up." Archie shrugged. "I was confused and hurt because maybe you didn't like me the same way that I liked you and maybe you didn't think that it was serious... and my mind went to that place where it wondered 'what if...' but it doesn't excuse what I did."

"It doesn't and it takes two to tango." She raised one eyebrow to him.

"I know." He propped himself against the wall. "I hurt you and Jughead by being selfish. The two people that I loved the most."

He saw Veronica dismissing a friend that was probably coming to her rescue and faced it as a good sign. 

"I'm sorry." He could see her walls slowly falling down as her anger subsided and she just looked hurt. "I really am. I almost bought a ticket to go after you in Switzerland but your dad can be really convincing with his 'stay away from my daughter' speech and I deserved it."

"He wanted to kill you. Literally." Veronica chuckled at that. "I almost let him. I don't think I've ever seen Hiram Lodge so mad as the day that I came home saying that I wanted to go to boarding school."

"I've had to face many demons since that day, Archie." 

His heart broke a little with her expression. It seemed that it was still a sore spot for her and he wanted to beat himself up for being the reason why the ever so brave and confident Veronica Lodge looked so small.

"I had never had a boyfriend until you. Hell, you still are my only boyfriend." She threw her hands up in the air. "I didn't know that I could be someone's emotional support until you. I didn't know how to love someone, how to open myself to go that far with someone... but I was already there with you.

I just couldn't say it. If I did, it would all become way to real and I would be giving you the power to my heart."

The first time that she'd said these words at her therapist's office, she couldn't stop crying for about two hours, hiccups and everything. 

"But I was going to say it, you know?" She gave him a half smile. "On New Year's Eve. I had it all planed but I guess it wasn't supposed to happen."

Archie pushed his hair back with both of his hands. He was needing a haircut, but it somehow matched with his indie-ish look. Veronica pulled at the hem of her skirt, feeling the weight of the emotions taking its toll on her. 

"Yet, I think that I've forgiven you a while ago?" It sounded and was a question that Veronica hadn't gotten the answer to. "I just can't hold a grudge against you, Archiekins."

His stomach fluttered at the use of the nickname. No one besides her called him like this and he had started the night at "Archibald".

"Tell me how I can make up to you." His eyes were pleading and he looked like a lost puppy. "I'll do anything." He had considered kneeling at her feet, but he knew that Veronica wouldn't approve public humiliation. 

Veronica fought her impulsiveness, but she knew it was useless if she was going to be kicking herself over it once she left this bar. Using the last drops of liquid courage that she could feel in her blood, she lifted her chin up and used her authoritarian voice.

"Lunch. Tomorrow." She pushed her phone to his face, not thinking how much it was a bad idea having Archie's number again. "I'll text you the details."

Archie almost jumped with relief. He would buy her lunch anywhere in the world at this point, and if it meant having Veronica back at his life, he was going to take this opportunity with both hands.

"See you tomorrow, then." He made his way to kiss her cheek but was met with her hand on his chest stopping him.

"Baby steps, Archie." She said as she turned around, making her way back to the table to collect her things. The night was obviously over, but not ruined. Sure, she would have to make an emergency appointment with her therapist, but she was impressed and satisfied with herself.

"Baby steps."                                                                                                                                                                                                                              


End file.
